Dr. M. Neil Terhune, Superintendent

2 hours ago

Esmeralda County School District

233 Ramsey, P.O. Box 560

Goldfield, Nevada 89013

Office 775-485-6382

Fax 775-485-3511

Superintendent Board Report April 10, 2018

General: Thanks for taking the time to read my report each month. This is the time of year when the superintendent and staff consult with one another and look for obvious school improvement actions that can be implemented for the upcoming school year. This could include adjustments to our personnel structure, upgrades to our facilities, curriculum changes and so forth. As I consult and consider you may hear scuttlebutt. Keep in mind that the process may involve speculation that will not make the final cut for board approval. Don’t get too excited too early. 😊 As I said last month, there is a genuine spirit of cooperation with each other and a love for our little ones.

Community and Calendar Activities:

The Goldfield Family and Community pie contest March 12th exceeded all expectations. Great planning and participation by the staff. The contributions for the student activity account went over $400.

Our three students, Emma White, Perla Jimenez, and Lorelai Collier, participated Saturday March 17th at the state Spelling Bee. Lorelai made it to the third round. Congratulations! Thanks to Mr. Dilworth the Collier family and Patty Beth for chaperoning.

Our second round of Parent Teacher conferences were conducted on March 22nd. I did receive some input from our GF parents about issues that concern them.

After the board has approved the calendar for next year, they will go out along with an explanation of the shortened instructional day being implemented next year. I will include an evening date at each site for the community to personally hear the justification for the change. I will also invite community members to see me by appointment at all three sites if they wish.

Students:

We will be doing our Spring MAP and State Summative Assessments in the next four weeks.

Spring Track District meet is scheduled for May 4th.

We enrolled two students in GF last week, and withdrew them the next day.

Staff and Committee Meetings:

We conducted several district level meetings on March 27th prior to Spring Break. The Policy Review Committee reviewed the “Instruction” section, approved a Board Agenda for April 10th, and held a District Level PLC meeting. The PLC agenda included a short update on the Safety Committee action items progress, a summary of the PLC Book Study and further discussion surrounding the District actions associated with the Computer Science curriculum and grant. Our next meeting will be held May 15th.

I am through with the formal observations of the certified staff. I will conduct their final/summative reviews in early May. I am now scheduling the Support Staff evaluations and am hoping to complete the nine-month employees by the end of April.

Negotiations: Our next negotiations with the Support Staff is scheduled for April 13th, about 11:00 AM. The Nye County School District Board decided that we were too expensive for participation in their pool. My hope is that we may have a final CBA to approve at the May Board meeting.

Facilities/Real Property:

Update on Ace Fire Alarm Project: A reminder from the last two month’s report that, “the ACE approach to the Fire Alarm project is being conducted in four phases, 1) data collection at each site, 2) Design (architectural computer overlays), 3) Request for Nevada Fire Marshal permits, and 4) site construction.” We are in phase three and Mike Spurgin has submitted his first set of plans to the district. The state Fire Marshall’s office has stated that Esmeralda County is one of the counties in Nevada that has applied for and received an exemption from their services. They will not review our plans unless we formally request it. Our options are, 1) request their help, 2) find somebody local that is qualified to review and approve the plans or 3) move forward without approval. Spurgin says that the permit process will delay the project until sometime in June. After discussing this with Doug and after reviewing the minutes of the January board bid discussion “leaving the details to the superintendent”; I am submitting a formal memo to the state Fire Marshall’s office requesting them to review and approve the Ace plans. I will hold off sending it until after the board meeting. There will be some back and forth with the state before Ace will have the go ahead. The project construction itself will take 6-8 weeks.If Ace starts immediately after approval, the project should be complete at or near start of the School Year. Mike said if there is Board member interest and question they are welcome to call him. Currently, we are at the beginning of the Permit Phase.

The safety update on our progress is being sent to you in a separate confidential email. I am not asking for anyone to violate the open meeting law by receiving this information. This is your Superintendent keeping you informed. If at some point if you feel there is a need for an executive session by the entire board on this process let me or Trish know. Remember you can still meet or call me with your individual questions etc.

Our maintenance personnel have still not completed the project for the Dyer Teacherage. Hopefully this week. ☹

Summer: I have kept you informed of my desire to clean up some of our district excess and mess. The district has done some great things in the way of roofing and concrete. Over the years, however there has been serious neglect in daily safety, organization, quality, aesthetics, and cleanliness. There is a lot to do in this area. I am creating a plan with timeline and resources. I will keep you informed. Once done we have to keep it that way.

Human Resources:

We continue recruiting for the ES position (s).

Jeff Higgins (School Counselor) will be visiting us in mid-April during his Spring Break. We will be getting a couple of transition days for him. If he is here on the 10th, I will invite him to the board meeting.

Technology: Oasis continues to offer us quality and timely support.

Policy/Procedures: A reminder that the board will be presented with the Policy Section on “Instruction” this month. The board packet contains the policy and the Administrative Regulations (ARs) that are offered up for a more detailed procedure are posted on our website. They will be posted once Wendy has had time to make the latest adjustments. We are on schedule to have a completed Policy Document by the early Fall date that the Policy Committee offered up last November. The Committee will then continue to refine and polish each month next year. Trisha Hafer participated and Bill Kirby contributed via Skype.

I will also offer up some changes (for Board Discussion) to the district Student Behavior Plan sometime before school begins next year.

Superintendent:

As always, board members please strongly encourage the community to call or see the superintendent when they have concerns. I want to hear them.

There are a series of conflicts with scheduling our Academic Annual Report May 22d or at the end of May. Awards nights, site graduations, THS graduation and board meetings are just some. I am tentatively looking at Wednesday May 16 at 6:00 PM for our Special Board meeting. Sunday and Wednesday are evenings that I normally discourage school activities. I feel that students should be home with their families a couple of days weekly, but this may be an exception.

I will attend the next NASS Meeting May 5th.

I will attend the POOL/PACT safety Conference April 20-21. This is in conjunction with my already scheduled service to the Reno LDS Temple on the 21st. I arranged to do the morning at the conference and the afternoon at the Temple.

VISION STATEMENT
We envision a highly effective district-wide safe and orderly Professional Learning Community that results in a premier school of highly engaged and highly motivated students preparing for High School and 21st Century College, Career and Citizenship responsibilities.

MISSION STATEMENT
Our mission is to create a safe and orderly environment with a highly effective PK-8 district-wide Professional Learning Community that appropriately delivers NVCCSS to a rural student population that will result in a 100% graduation of eighth grade students adequately prepared for High School responsibilities.

Belief Statements
WE BELIEVE that all students can learn at high levels.
1. WE BELIEVE that this can best be achieved by becoming and performing as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). We will be guided by three questions:
a. What is it we want our students to learn?
b. How will we know our students have learned?
c. What will we do when they do not learn?
2. WE BELIEVE in providing a learning environment that fosters citizenship, a high level of health and physical fitness; and one that supports a moral/ethical approach to the challenges of our current society, to college and to career readiness.
3. WE BELIEVE in providing a learning environment that fosters respect for social and individual diversity.
4. WE BELIEVE that “Family and Community Engagement in Public Schools” is critical to student success.

Esmeralda School District is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex, gender, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, political affiliation, or gender identity or expression. Esmeralda School District is an equal opportunity employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce and complies with all Federal and Nevada State laws, regulations, and executive orders regarding non-discrimination.

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